


Down We Go

by Starboundwanderer



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars The Force Awakens, star wars the last jedi
Genre: F/M, Hades and Persephone AU, Reylo - Freeform, try and stop me from writing hades and persephone au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2020-10-24 18:22:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20710487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starboundwanderer/pseuds/Starboundwanderer
Summary: Rey's loneliness calls out to someone powerful, someone she has more in common with than she realizes.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Pry my Hades and Persephone AU's from my cold, dead hands.

The desert played tricks on its residents’ eyes. Rey was used to the mirages and hallucinations, the shadows that looked like humans and the figures that swam across her vision. Sometimes they were her only company in her lonely little house. 

She lived on the outskirts of a small town in the middle of nowhere—the fringes of nothing, she thought. Her small home had sky-blue paint faded by the sun and plants everywhere on the inside. She decided if life wouldn’t grow outside then she’d bring it to her. 

As she tended to her small succulent, she wondered for the millionth time what life was like past this hellish landscape. What was it like where the land was green and water flowed? She’d seen pictures in books and watched documentaries on television, but she wondered what it felt like. And snow—oh what she’d give to touch snow. 

She shook her head. Dreaming like that was pointless. She couldn’t go anywhere. For one thing, she had no money. For another, she was waiting for her parents to return. They’d left her in the town under the care of her Gram Lily with nothing but a suitcase and the promise they’d be back to pick her up one day. She felt her throat getting tight. She refused to look at the picture on the mantel, the last picture they’d taken together before Gram had passed away. She clutched the succulent to her chest, fighting the tears. 

“Come home,” she whispered as she gazed out the window. 

She wasn’t speaking to her grandmother in that moment. She was hoping with all her might that her mother and father were somehow listening and heard her. 

She was so tired of being alone. 

Maz’s grocery store was a short walk from her house. Unkar Plutt’s was closer, but Rey refused to stop there. She smiled at the small woman behind the counter. 

“My little ray of sunshine!” Maz said over her crossword puzzle. 

Rey smiled. “Good evening, Maz.” 

“How are you?” 

“Good,” she lied. “It’s getting easier.” There. That wasn’t a lie. 

“Hmmm.” Maz looked her up and down from behind her thick glasses. “What brings you out in this heat?” 

“It’s always hot.” 

“Hotter today than usual. What do you need, Rey?” 

Rey shrugged. She didn’t really need anything, not that she could really afford anything right now. Work had been slow, and she’d missed quite a bit because of her gram’s death and dealing with the funeral. 

“Just wanted to visit.” 

“Have you talked to Finn? Or Rose? Or...well, anyone since Lily died?” 

Her throat got tight at the thought of her friends from high school. They’d all moved on. They still called and texted, but it wasn’t the same. Besides, Finn and Rose were so busy with the new baby, and she didn’t want to impose. 

“They’re all busy. But that’s okay,” she added hastily. 

Maz sighed. “You need to get out of this town.” 

Rey laughed. “With what money?” 

“Is it really money, Rey?” The older woman sat down her crossword puzzle. Uh oh. That meant she was about to get serious. “You’re good with money, and you can save up again if you’re careful.” 

“What else would it be about?” Rey looked down at her hands and picked at a nail. Oil and gunk were forever in the creases of her hands, and some part of her was proud of that—the hands of a worker, a woman who made her own way. 

“Your parents.” 

She stiffened, though her heart pounded. “Haven’t thought about them in years, Maz.” 

“Rey,” the older woman said softly, “they’re not coming back. Lily told me as much.” 

Throat suddenly tight and feeling a bit claustrophobic, Rey stood. She tried to tell her friend goodbye, but the words got lost, and her vision was swimming. She left without saying anything. 

At her house, sweaty and tired, she shut the door too hard. She let herself slide to the floor. _ Don’t cry _, she told herself. 

She was tired of crying. She was tired of feeling _ so _empty. It was like there was a gaping chasm in her chest that kept taking in more and more of her but was never filled. She wondered how long it would be until she was nothing but grief and pain. 

_ “Rey,” _ she heard whispered. She opened her eyes, heart pounding. _ “Rey.” _

She stood and grabbed a thick hardcover book from the end table. She kept her back pressed to the door, ready to run at a moment’s notice. 

Then, out of shadows too dark, appeared a tall, pale man. He held a hand out to her. 

“Come home.” 

Hypnotized by his dark eyes, she slowly raised her hand and grasped his. 

_ Kylo _

_ Come home. _ He often heard it whispered in his dreams, but always by his mother or father. It never haunted him during his waking hours, but then he heard it. A whisper, a plea. A voice full of such loneliness that even his heart ached. 

So he watched her through his shadows. The beautiful, sad girl who was being swallowed by pain and a past she couldn’t let go of. He found a kinship in her in the day he spent watching her. 

And when she began to sob, palm over her heart as if trying to stifle some sort of pain, he couldn’t stand it anymore. 

He walked through his shadows and into her little living room, which burst green with life. 

“Come home,” he said. 

He’d give her a home. He’d give her something to hold onto. He’d give her everything she wanted and more. 

He’d give her a kingdom. 


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Kylo meet again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit shorter than what the rest will be. I don't know how long this work will, because it's just kind of happening. Don't worry--there'll be a plot eventually.

Rey woke from the strangest dream. A tall, mysterious man had taken her hand, and then they’d been swept up in darkness. She’d wandered a barren landscape with a starry sky above her, all while the man walked with her and listened to stories about her friends and her gram. 

Then she woke in her bed, sunlight streaming in. She’d sat up gasping, struggling to remember every detail of the dream, but finding it all slipping away. Then her alarm had gone off, and she’d given up on trying to recall anything more than fragments and the warm feeling the man had given her.

“Morning,” she said as she walked into the shop. Poe’s legs stuck out from under a rusting Chevy pick-up. 

“Did you bring coffee?” he asked. 

“And donuts.”

There was a loud clang as he rolled out from beneath the truck. He wiped his hands with the bandana in his pocket before reaching into the box. Rey smacked his hand away.

“Wash your hands, Poe.”

“Rey, come on—”

“We eat like civilized people in this shop, not like...men.” She smirked at him.

He rolled his eyes but went over to the industrial sink on the wall and made a big show of washing the gunk away. He dramatically waved his hands in the air to dry them.

“Thank you,” she told him, holding the box of donuts out.

He put on in his mouth and held another in his hand. He eyed her somewhat  suspiciously .

“You’re in a chipper mood this morning.” 

She took a bite of her donut and shrugged. She was feeling better today. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a far cry from yesterday when she’d broken down in her living room. The loneliness was no longer a gaping hole in her chest but a more manageable, stitched-up version of it. When she thought too long about her gram, her parents, or even Finn and Rose, it was like she could feel the stitches tugging, threatening to break open.

So she didn’t think about any of that. She would focus on work and getting her money saved up again so she didn’t have to worry about scraping by on upcoming bills or buying groceries.

“Seriously, what’s on your mind? I haven’t  seen that smile in months.” Poe plopped into the tattered rolling chair. 

“Can’t I just be in a good mood?” she asked playfully.

“Did you meet someone?”

She rolled her eyes. “Who could I meet here?”

“Maybe some mystery man got stranded on the side of the road, and when you stopped to pick him up, it was an instant love connection. Boom. Soulmates.” He pointed his donut at her.

“No such thing. And just because you and Jannah have some fairytale romance doesn’t mean everyone does.”

“There are definitely cosmic forces at work that we can't comprehend. And I don’t know if I’d call Jannah nearly pepper-spraying me when my car was broken down a fairytale.” He got a dopey grin on his face as he thought of his wife. 

“Please,” Rey said with a laugh, “you two are so  disgustingly in love. In fact, you two might be the only actual soulmates in the world—no, no in the entire  _ cosmos _ .” 

“Laugh all you want, Rey, but I know the universe has something in store for you. I feel it.”

“What you feel is your upcoming heartburn from those two donuts.”

Poe burped in a very manly way before standing. He stretched and his back gave an impressive pop.

“As much as I'd love to sit around discussing my perfect marriage, heartburn, and the infinite universe, we have work to do. You want to change Maz’s oil or figure out what the hell is wrong with Plutt’s truck?”

She wrinkled her nose. “Oil.”

Kylo

Through the shadows, he watched her again. He’d resisted for hours, but he couldn’t stop thinking of her and how at ease she’d been with him. No one was that way with him. And he could’ve listened to her talk forever, but has instead returned her to her home, and, with a bit of his magic, put it in her head that it had been a dream.

He’d come back for her, of course. But it was clear she wasn’t ready yet. He knew she was his queen, but she needed time to heal. Time to say goodbye to her mortal life. Luckily, time was something he had in abundance. 

As he watched her laughing with the handsome man, he felt a strange emotion—jealousy. He almost laughed. In her short time with him, she had evoked his curiosity, a bit of joy, and even sadness when he had to leave her. It had been a long time since such things had been stirred in him. He felt like a child, stumbling through all these once-familiar things.

The handsome man mentioned his wife, and, to his happiness, Rey’s face didn’t fall or show any pain at the mention of Jannah’s name. There was perhaps a bit of longing there, but it wasn’t for either of them, he thought. More for what they had.

_ Just wait _ , he thought.  _ We’ll have what they do and more _ .

She’d fallen asleep on her couch after work. He materialized out of the shadows and stared at her. The setting  sun was painting her in golds and oranges. He knelt beside her and ran the back of his hand over her cheek. She gently stirred, slowly opening her eyes. She gasped when she realized there was someone else in the room with her.

And then she smiled.

“You weren’t just a dream,” she whispered. 

“Most think of me as a nightmare,” he teased. 

“Not me.” She reached up and cupped his cheek. He found himself smiling too. “Can we go back?”

He nodded. “Of course, darling. Whatever you want.”

He stood, holding his hand out for her again. She eagerly leapt up and intertwined their fingers. He felt shocks going up his arm where their skin touched.

He  led her into the shadows and to his kingdom.


	3. chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *cough* it's filler *cough*

_ Rey _

Going through the shadows felt cold, and darkness clung to their bodies like spiderwebs. She shuddered as they crossed the threshold. 

She’d known he was real. Her dreams were never so good. 

The last time they’d been together they’d walked across a white-sand desert with a black, starry sky above them. This time it was a field with green grass and spots of color from wildflowers. The sun was setting as in the real world, but it was somehow a more beautiful sunset than she’d ever seen. 

“I remember last night perfectly, but I couldn’t early today. Why?” 

“I didn’t want you to panic, so I made it so you’ll think our nights are only dreams unless I'm near.” 

She frowned. “I don’t particularly like that.” 

“Would you like for me to take the enchantment off?” 

She took a moment to imagine walking through the streets, going to work, and talking to Maz knowing all this was real. How could she cope with her world if she ever knew that such wonderous things existed? 

“For now...no. One day, yes, but I think it’s okay to believe this is all make-believe right now.” 

He nodded. Then he grabbed her hand and led her forward. The grass tickled her ankles and the dirt was warm beneath her bare feet. She ran her palm over the taller grass. 

“I thought you’d like this.” He squeezed her hand. 

“Where are we, exactly?” 

“My kingdom. I can make it look however I wish. It’s mine to shape and control.” 

“So, you’re...what? A fairy? A magician?” she joked. She turned her head to him. He seemed to be fighting a smile. 

“None of the above. I’m something else.” 

She bumped into him playfully. “What are you then?” 

“That’s a long story, Rey. For another day.” 

“Ah. I get it. You have deep dark secrets to keep.” 

He laughed. “It’s just too long to tell tonight.” 

“Okay, okay. But you will have to tell me one day.” She grinned up at him, craning her neck. Her stomach filled with butterflies to see he was grinning at her too. 

“One day.” 

_ Kylo_

He returned her home and was even bold enough to kiss her on the cheek before he left. His heart still thundered as he returned to his kingdom. She made him feel so vibrant and world so welcoming. 

He walked along the hallways of his manor until he could focus his thoughts and settled into a chair. He usually avoided this room because it was where he’d last seen his mother and father. It was here that he’d seen the fear in his father’s eyes. 

He turned his gaze to the roaring fireplace. No father should be scared of their son. No son should have to feel like they’re such a letdown. 

“Ben,” his mother pleaded, “come home. We miss you.” 

Kylo had stepped away. How could they? After all they’d done? Casting him from their realm, the world of immortals, to live with Luke because they thought he couldn’t control his powers? And now, after he’d been abandoned, beaten, and abused, they came to him. 

The worst part was that he wanted to go back. He desperately wanted to fall to his knees and hug his mother, let her run her fingers through his hair and comfort him. He wanted his father to wrap his arms around him and tell him it’d be okay. He was forgiven. 

But the anger in Kylo wouldn’t allow it. Something dark in him, which had a voice similar to Snoke’s, whispered about how they’d never trust him, this was all a ploy. How could anyone forgive him after he’d almost killed his own uncle and turned to the darkest of them all for help? 

“Get out,” he sneered at them. 

“Ben—” his father started. 

“Ben is dead!” Kylo yelled. He turned, ignoring the pang in his chest at his parents’ tearful faces. And just because he wanted them to hurt too, he added, “He died when his own parents abandoned him.” 

He felt their shock and hurt at his statement. They left him to his realm, and Kylo was alone again. 

_ Rey _

“Goodness, you’re so big, Peanut!” Rey said as she took Mia into her arms. She grinned down at her goddaughter, who stared up at her with big, happy eyes. She grinned and tried to grab her godmother’s hair, which Rose quickly swept behind Rey’s shoulder. 

“Trust me, you don’t want her get ahold of it,” she said gravely. Rey laughed as she bounced Mia. She hadn’t gotten to see her since the day she was born six months ago. That was before her only friends had left for good. They’d left her once before to go to school—Rose a two-year for engineering and Finn for a teaching degree—about three years ago. Rose had graduated early, and Finn was older than both of them. Rey had spent her last few years of high school very lonely, as she’d never been able to click with the other students. 

Rose sat beside Finn on the couch. Finn put his arm around his wife, and Rey couldn’t help but stare at them for a moment. They were so in love, so insanely, wonderfully in love. Finn looked at Rose like she’d hung the moon, and Rose at him like he was the reason the sun crawled over the horizon every morning. The only person they looked at with more devotion was Mia. She felt a yearning stir in her chest and swore she felt hands ghost over her shoulders. She shivered as she sat down in the big lounge chair. 

She made faces at Mia and tickled her belly until Finn said, “You seem...different.” 

She snorted. “You’re not the only one who’s said that lately. Maybe I've gained weight.” She _ had _finally started eating regularly again, after getting her appetite back after so long. 

“No, no, it’s nothing physical. It’s a...glow,” Rose told her. Then she let out a small gasp. “Are you pregnant?” 

“Wha—no, no, not pregnant. Not even the possibility of being pregnant.” Even if she’d ever been with someone, she’d been on birth control since she was sixteen thanks to her grandmother. 

“Oh thank God,” Finn mumbled. Rose hit him. “Ow! What? First of all, Rey _ just _turned twenty. Second, she needs to get out of here before she raises any kids.” 

“What’s wrong with here?” Rey asked. “We were all raised here. Poe and Jannah are raising Jacob here.” 

“It’s not where you belong.” Finn said it as if it were an absolute. Rose hesitantly nodded. 

“Well. I’m here. I can’t afford to go anywhere, so if I have kids, they’ll be raised here too.” Even as she said it aloud, she felt a bit of hopelessness settle in again. 

Finn and Rose shared a look that was obviously saying they’d pick this fight with her another day. But for now, they let it drop, and Rey was grateful. 

She looked up from her goddaughter and saw the two of them smiling at each other, as if there was a joke only they were in on. 

She hoped she’d get a love like that one day. 


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They both have an emotional moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These two emotional creatures are back in the saddle. So is Snoke.

_ Rey _

Her mind drifted at work. She did her jobs mechanically and found herself asking for Poe to repeat himself several times. She couldn’t stop thinking about her dream. It was so much clearer than they usually were, as if she’d lived it or perhaps seen it on a movie screen. 

She wore a beautiful gown the color of smoke; her hair was in intricate braids; and her neck was heavy with thick gems. She twirled and dance and danced around a grand ball room with floors of black marble and a massive domed ceiling made of stained glass. All this extravagance, and she was focused on the man in front of her. He was tall and handsome, and wore a suit of black with a coat trimmed in gold that fell almost to his knees. Others danced around them, but they were opaque, as if they’d be blown away in the wind, so it truly felt as if they were alone. 

The music was reaching its end, and the man dipped her low. As he brought her back up, she was smiling. 

“Are you ready, Rey?” he asked. 

“Ready for what?” 

“Ready to stay with me?” 

She remembered going still in his arms. Something told her they’d had this conversation before. 

“I need more time.” 

He smiled, though it was sad. “It takes time to let go of the past.” 

“Why do I have to let it go? Why can’t I have you and my life?” 

“Why do you want it?” he asked. His eyebrows raised up, and he moved his hands to grasp her biceps. “There’s nothing there and everything here.” 

“The people I love are there.” She pulled away. The music had stopped, and she could hear her heels clacking against the floor. 

“And you don’t love me?” He tried to hide the hurt in his voice, but it was obvious to her. 

“Of course I love you, but I love them too. Poe, Finn, Rose, Maz—my heart has room to love everyone. And I can’t just abandon them.” 

He said nothing. He only took her hand in his and began leading her out. 

“Please...” 

“The sun’s coming up soon.” 

“We need to talk—” 

He kissed her forehead. “Goodbye, Rey.” 

And he walked away, the grand ball room fading around her. She fought back frustrated tears, knowing she’d be awake, her soul returned to her body, soon. 

“Rey!” she heard. 

She dropped the wrench. It clanged loudly enough on the floor to make her ears ring. 

“Sorry—what?” she asked as she bent to pick it up. 

Poe frowned and set his oil rag on the counter. 

“I asked if you were okay. For the millionth time.” 

“I’m fine. Just a little out of it.” 

“Maybe you should go home. I can call Jannah and ask her to drop you off if you need me to.” 

“No, no, I'm fine,” she assured him. “Didn’t sleep well last night.” 

She tried to return to her work, but couldn’t. She knew Poe wanted to say more and was trying to find the way to say it. 

“You’ve been doing so well,” he began slowly, “and I don’t want you to go back to how you were a few months ago.” 

“What, you mean sad and lost?” 

“Rey—” 

“Because my grandmother, the only person who didn’t abandon me, _ died _, Poe.” Her throat got tight and tears welled in her eyes. She turned back to Erica Claiborne’s car. 

“Rose and Finn didn’t abandon you—” 

She let the wrench fall loudly to the ground again. 

“I’m taking the afternoon off,” she managed to say as she went out the employee entrance. 

The sun almost blinded her, but it was a good excuse for her watery eyes as she walked the few blocks to her house. 

She didn’t think Finn and Rose had abandoned her. They had gotten out and followed their dreams. And their life was better for it. 

She fumbled with her keys at her door. Her grandmother hadn’t abandoned her. She had just died, like everyone would. 

The air conditioning of the house swept over her. She went to the bathroom and splashed water on her face. 

No, the only people who had ever truly left her were her parents. 

And they weren’t coming back. She had always known that, but it was as though she was finally able to see it clearly. She looked around the bathroom and couldn’t help but notice the cracked green tiles or the faded towels. Every flaw seemed to amplified. 

With a choked sob, she opened the door and went to her bedroom, careful to keep her eyes from straying to the water stains in the ceiling or the cracked plaster. This place had been her home, but it was like she’d seen it through rose colored glasses. With her grandmother gone and no one to distract her in the waking world, she was starting to see it for how it was—and she didn’t like it. 

_ I deserve better. _ The thought came unbidden, but it was true. She thought back to her dream of a ball room and beautiful dress and the handsome man. Perhaps there was no such thing as him and a ceiling made of color broken glass, but there was someone who could make her feel that way; she just knew it. 

In a moment of frenzy, she opened her closet and pulled out her only suitcase. She knew deep down that she wouldn’t actually go anywhere, but she had the urge to pack the bag, to know she could just leave if she wanted. 

She went and yanked a drawer from her dresser and began tipping it into the suitcase. Her t-shirts fell in haphazardly, but she stuffed them down, set the drawer on the floor, and started grabbing anything she could reach—pants, underwear, socks, shoes. She was putting her makeup bag in when she remembered a name. It made her freeze. 

For reasons she didn’t understand, she whispered, “Kylo.” 

_ Kylo _

He tried not to pout about it, but he was desperate for her to simply come and be with him all the time, not the nights he snuck her away. All day he avoided watching her through the shadows. He turned over what he’d say to her that night. 

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.” Or perhaps something along the lines of, “I love you.” 

He roamed the hallways. The only company was the shades, which were just imprints of people. In the library he paced through the shelves, unaware that someone was in the room with him. 

“What has you fretting?” he heard. His blood ran cold. 

He slowly turned to face the man he most hated. Snoke. Sitting in a winged-back chair near the fire. His grizzled face was in something like a smile. 

“Nothing that’s your concern.” His voice was detached. He flexed his fist to get rid of the urge to throw this vile snake from his home. 

Snoke laughed. “Everything about you is my concern. You’re my apprentice.” 

“Prisoner,” he corrected harshly. “You tricked me into turning away from my life and trapped me here.” 

“I freed you, boy. Your power knows no bounds now.” 

“Except the ones you put on it.” 

“For you own safety. You’re a volatile, emotional creature.” 

Kylo used his powers to shove Snoke’s chair back against the wall while simultaneously extinguishing the fire. His former teacher and idol looked stunned for half a second. 

“Good. You’re coming into your own.” 

“Soon I'll be powerful enough to break your bonds, Snoke.” 

“Perhaps. Or perhaps whatever you’re hiding from me, you do so because you know it can be used against you.” 

He didn’t let his thoughts stray to Rey, for fear of Snoke somehow breaking the shield on his mind. 

“I’ll get out of here, and I’ll fix everything you broke,” Kylo promised. He thought of his mother and father, of Luke and the other immortals whose trust he’d broken when Snoke had tricked him. 

The old man laughed. He said nothing as he stood and was gone in a blink. 

Kylo was shaky as he moved to a chair and collapsed in it. 

Rey was in danger. Because of him. What was it with him that he couldn’t love something without it getting put in harm’s way? 

He put his head in his hands. Then he heard a whisper. Rey’s voice saying his name. 

He stood up again. No, no, no—if she remembered then the magic he’d worked to keep her from knowing him during the daylight hours was wearing off as she became used to it. 

Which meant she’d be easier for Snoke and his monsters to find. 

He stepped into her world without a second thought. 

**Author's Note:**

> buy me a coffee @ ko-fi.com/wonderfulandfanciful  
or come talk to me on tumblr at starbound-wanderer  
:)


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